Chicago Bears owners: keep Crane High School open

Two weeks before giving school $20,000, McCaskeys ask schools chief to respect George Halas' alma mater

02/01/2012 1:10 PM

By BEN MEYERSON
Editor

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Crane High School



The family that owns the Chicago Bears is joining the fight to save the Near West Side’s Crane High School, lobbying Chicago’s schools chief to keep Bears founder George Halas’ alma mater open.

In early December, the team had a 75-pound plaque from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, featuring Halas’ likeness, installed at the school. That award came with a check for $20,000, which Halas’ heirs the McCaskeys requested go towards improving equipment for the school’s football team.

But in a letter dated Dec. 28, team co-owner Patrick McCaskey — Halas’ grandson — wrote that the dedication had been dampened by news of Crane’s impending closure, and a charter school taking its place.

In the letter, addressed to Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, McCaskey said his family wanted to see the school stay open to honor the past as well as provide for neighborhood kids in the future.

“Please reconsider closing, phasing out, or changing the school status from what it is today,” McCaskey wrote. “The rich history of the school, along with an extensive list of outstanding alumni, deserves the respect of having their legacy continue on into the future so they have a home to which they can return.”

The school was central to Halas’ development as a person and as an athlete when the man who would become Papa Bear was growing up at 18th Place and Wood Street, McCaskey wrote.

“At Crane, grandpa went out for football, track and baseball, but struggles with weight — particularly, his inability to gain any — turned out to be an issue,” he said. “Grandpa weighed 110 pounds when he started at Crane, yet despite eating everything his mother put on the table (and then some), he managed to put on just 10 more pounds by the time he graduated.”

Nevertheless, Halas met his future wife Min while pitching for Crane in a baseball game against Harrison High School, as she heckled him during the game.

The McCaskey family is trying to preserve Halas’ legacy of striving for success, he said, not just by winning championships but also by helping other people. McCaskey said he’s served as “principal for a day” at Crane six times, and he’s seen the staff’s dedication firsthand.

“We lend our support to the principal, Richard Smith, the staff, students and community to keep Crane High School a neighborhood school, just as it was when my grandfather attended Crane,” McCaskey wrote. “The children of the neighborhood need a neighborhood school to attend that sits in close proximity to where they live. Please let the tradition continue on just as the tradition of the Chicago Bears continues on.”

Two weeks later, on Jan. 11, the Pro Football Hall of Fame sent the check to the school, with the wish that the entire donation be used for the school’s football program.

Crane Athletic Director Bennie Horton said the letter was a huge boost for the group of teachers, students, parents and community activists dubbing themselves the Crane Coalition fighting to keep the school open.

“It’s a tremendous help,” Horton said. “The request is really being considered … it went straight to Brizard, and if Brizard got it, you know the mayor’s got it.”

A spokesman for the Bears confirmed the letter was authentic. CPS spokesman Frank Shuftan confirmed that they had received the letter, but sent back a generic response identical to one the schools have been giving out throughout public hearings on Crane.

“We simply can no longer accept the status quo that has failed our children year after year,” Shuftan wrote in an email. “We know that these decisions are not easy but they are necessary if we are to provide our children with the opportunity to access a higher-quality education.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s press office deferred comment to CPS.

The McCaskeys join several prominent politicians who have spoken out against closing Crane, current and former aldermen Bob Fioretti (2nd), Walter Burnett (27th) and Ed Smith (28th), as well as U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and State Sen. Annazette Collins. A formal vote on the plan to phase out Crane could take place at February’s CPS board meeting.


9 Comments - Add Your Comment



By frank1906 from nw side
Posted: 02/23/2012 5:23 PM

I agree with keeping Crane open. If the McCaskeys and others are willing to help support the school and to improve the quality of education then go for it. If that means bring in private school teachers and not the CPS Union now I as a tax payer would be for it. The union has shown that they can not do the work they need to do, to improve the schools that under perform.The answer is not more money for the teachers,but change the thinking of the community to improve and better there students.


By Emilio from Northside
Posted: 02/05/2012 10:21 PM

I agree with West Side Citizen. Schools are underfunded. They have been at the expense of the bloated salaries and staff sizes of the administrators at the CPS headquarters. It\'s a bureaucracy that has grown as a percentage of total students from the 80s on. Blame city hall. specifically Daley\'s and now Rahm\'s TIFs for the money shortage. My sister\'s children are in a public school. Parents and teachers volunteer time to keep a school funded.


By Martin Ritter from CTU Local 1
Posted: 02/03/2012 7:07 PM

John You have no idea what you are talking about. Mr Carter has no affiliation with the Chicago Teachers Union, I can verify that as a member and an employee who works in the Organizing dept.


By John dixmore from Westhaven
Posted: 02/03/2012 3:54 PM

It’s too bad the Bears have joined the ranks of gang member, CTU organizer Mark Carter in trying to force Chicago kids to attend a failing school.  Check out this video of Carter getting kicked out a CPS meeting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aayZpfPXic   JD


By Lynn Naebor from West Garfield
Posted: 02/03/2012 3:37 PM

Football is great, but what about a quality education?  30 percent of the kids who go to Crane drop out during their first year.  Less than half graduate on the five year program.  FIVE years!  Academic performance has nothing to do with football.  It has to do with a school that is failing out children and they deserve better. L Naebor


By West Side Citizen from Near West
Posted: 02/02/2012 11:22 PM

Just a question. Have either of you stepped foot in Crane? The McCaskeys have. Have either if you talked to our students? The McCaskeys have. The \"status Quo\" that CPS talks about is a lie. Public Schos are not \"failing\" because of the teachers or staff within them. Theyre just the ones that suffer for past CPS blunders. The actual unacceptable status quo that needs to change is underfunding our public schools. Closing schools only moves a problem to the next school. It never solves anything!


By West sider from West side
Posted: 02/02/2012 11:06 PM

I agree with you near west reside. The McCaskeys are way out of line. Chicago "is what it is" because of the low bar and past status quo. Just notice the supports named (Fioretti, Burnett, Davis, Smith and Collins). Look at their districts. We finally have a chance for the city to move forward with outsiders such as Brizard and Emanuel. Not saying that I agree with everything they do but at least they know that if Chicago is to change for the better, then the systematic problems must change too.


By Near West resident from UIC
Posted: 02/02/2012 10:08 PM

Seriously?? The McCaskeys want Crane to stay open for their memories?? The fact that it\'s a failing school and doesn\'t educate the students doesn\'t come into play? How many McCaskey kids are attending Crane now? Or are they in the North Shore schools? Don\'t be so elitist and self-absorbed McCaskeys, it\'s not about your name, it\'s about education.


By Julie Woestehoff from Chicago
Posted: 02/02/2012 11:00 AM

Thanks for this refreshing story! McCaskeys understand the value of community and neighborhood schools. Their support is in sharp contrast to so many elite Chicagoans pushing for teacher firings and school privatization.